DEAD BOY’S MOTHER PLEADS NOT GUILTY

$10 million bail for Carmel Valley woman accused of drowning 4-year-old autistic son

San Diego 
A Carmel Valley woman believed to have fatally drowned her 4-year-old autistic son in a bathtub pleaded not guilty Wednesday to charges of murder and assault on a child.

Patricia Corby, 36, is charged in connection with the death of her son, Daniel. She stood in the courtroom with her head bowed and her shoulders slumped and shaking as a lawyer entered the plea on her behalf.

Her dark hair hung over her face.

After hearing a few details about the case from a prosecutor, San Diego Superior Court Judge Michael Smyth set Corby’s bail at $10 million, citing the seriousness of the charges, her ties to Mexico — which make her a potential flight risk — and her personal safety.

Corby was arrested Saturday morning after driving her son to the northwestern division station of the San Diego Police Department, authorities said. She flagged down a sergeant in the parking lot.

Deputy District Attorney Dino Paraskevopoulos said in court that Corby told the sergeant that she killed her child. The sergeant found the boy wrapped in a blanket in the back seat of the car. The child was wet and water was foaming around his mouth.

Police and paramedics tried to revive Daniel but were unsuccessful.

Authorities searched the apartment Corby shared with her husband and found that the bathtub still contained 5 to 6 inches of water.

In an interview that day, she told police that the boy was autistic and that she didn’t believe he would have a life or a future without her, so she decided to kill him, the prosecutor said.

Corby’s husband was not home when the boy was drowned.

Paraskevopoulos said the husband was at the courthouse Wednesday but too distraught to attend his wife’s arraignment.

When arguing for the high bail, the prosecutor said the husband had expressed some concern about whether Corby would flee to Mexico if she was released. The attorney said Corby is a Mexican citizen but is married to an American and has lived here for more than 11 years.

Paraskevopoulos also said there was evidence that Corby had expressed suicidal thoughts while in jail. He would not say whether she had tried to kill herself before then.